The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an anti-glare rear view mirror for vehicles, and more particularly, to a method for enabling an efficient assembling of an anti-glare rearview mirror for vehicles.
An automobile is generally equipped with an anti-glare rearview mirror in the driver""s compartment so that good visibility of the driver is ensured by adjusting its reflectivity even if the driver is dazzled by the light of the following car. Most of the anti-glare rearview mirrors have a prismatic mirror whose front face and rear face are different in reflectivity, and the rearview mirror is movable between normal position and anti-glare position by turning the prismatic mirror at a certain angle while providing the driver with the same visual field.
The following mechanism for turning a mirror of anti-glare rearview mirror is known as a conventional rearview mirror for vehicles. An anti-glare rearview mirror consists of a mirror, a mirror housing, a rectangular bracket, a control lever, and a fixing stay. The bracket has a turning axle that is projecting outwardly from both ends of one side, and on the opposite side of its turning axle, the bracket has an engaging portion. This bracket is pivotally mounted to the mirror housing to which the prismatic mirror is fixed. The control lever, for controlling movement of the mirror between normal and anti-glare position, consists of a stick-shaped body and a flat handle provided along and at the mid-point of the body. Also, an engaging portion is formed on one side of the stick-shaped body. This control lever is also pivotally mounted to the mirror housing with its engaging portion meshed with the engaging portion of the bracket. This rearview mirror is fixed to the vehicle body by a fixing stay that connects the bracket with the vehicle body through an aperture of the mirror housing.
In this mechanism, turning the control lever with an operation of the handle allows the bracket to turn slightly to change a relative angle between the bracket and the mirror housing. As described above, since the bracket is fixed to the vehicle body by the fixing stay, the operation of turning the control lever does not change the position of the bracket but changes the angle of the mirror instead, so that the reflection on the prismatic mirror switches between the front and rear face of the mirror.
The bracket and the control lever of this anti-glare mirror are molded together in one die for reducing the cost of the die as well as saving the time for molding. Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 6 or FIG. 7, the bracket and the control lever are molded integrally and connected by runners.
In FIG. 6A, a bracket 101 and a control lever 102 respectively have an engaging portion 101a, 102a which are to be engaged each other. The bracket 101 and the control lever 102 are molded together in such a manner that a sub runner 106 vertically branched from a main runner 105 connects the engaging portions 101a, 102a with said engaging portions 101a, 102a faced each other. When the bracket 101 and the control lever 102 are assembled, the assembler cuts off the sub runner 106, brings the bracket 101 and the lever 102 close to each other while retaining the facing posture, engages the engaging portions 101a, 102a, and places the assembly into a mirror housing (FIG. 6B).
In FIG. 7A, a bracket 111 and a control lever 112 respectively have an engaging portion 111a, 112a which are to be engaged each other. The bracket 111 and the control lever 112 are molded together in such a manner that two U-shaped runners 116 connect both ends of a turning pivot 118 of the control lever 112 and the side parts 117 of the bracket 111, with said engaging portions 111a, 112a faced each other.
However, the aforementioned conventional anti-glare mirror shown in FIG. 6A has a drawback if the bracket 101 and the control lever 102 are separated at the runner 106 and assembled together into the anti-glare mirror without removing remaining parts or burrs of the runner 106. The drawback is that the remaining parts interfere each other upon operating the control lever 102, as illustrated in FIG. 6B, resulting defective operation of the control lever 102 or rapping sounds during the operation. Therefore, it is necessary to remove the remaining parts of the runner 106 from the bracket 101 and the control lever 102 respectively with use of nippers and the like.
As shown in FIG. 7B, the aforementioned conventional anti-glare mirror has a similar drawback in that if the bracket 111 and the control lever 112 are separated at the runners 116 and assembled together without removing remaining parts or burrs of the runners 116, as illustrated in FIG. 7B, the remaining parts interfere each other.
Meanwhile, it is time-consuming if a worker removes all remaining parts in the assembly line during assembling operation. For this reason, the bracket and the control lever have to be separated in advance with the remaining parts of the runner removed. Therefore, an additional operation and extra stock space are required.
Moreover, it is troublesome for the worker to pick up the bracket and the control lever from different cases and assemble them.
In order to rectify these problems, the object of this invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an anti-glare rearview mirror without requiring removal of runners and so facilitates efficient assembly.
In light of this object, the first aspect of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an anti-glare rearview mirror. The rearview mirror as a workpiece of the manufacture includes a mirror, a mirror housing for fixing the mirror, a bracket pivotally mounted to the mirror housing, and a control lever pivotally mounted to the mirror housing and engaged with the bracket. The relative angle between the bracket and the mirror housing is varied by a turning operation of the control lever relative to the mirror housing. In manufacturing this rearview mirror, the bracket and the control lever are molded integrally in such a manner that a runner connects the bracket and that the control lever does not interfere the movement of the bracket or the control lever if these parts are assembled to an anti-glare rearview mirror. Further, the bracket and the control lever is separated at the runner, and these parts are assembled to the mirror housing without removing a remaining part of the runner.
According to this method, the runner is formed so as not to interfere the movement of the bracket or the control lever if the bracket and the control lever are assembled into the anti-glare rearview mirror, so that a worker can separate the control lever from the bracket and assemble the bracket and the control lever into the mirror housing without cutting off the remaining part of the runner. Therefore, efficient assembly of the anti-glare rearview mirror for vehicles is achieved by leaving out the step of removing the runner. Moreover, the separated bracket and the separated control lever are available for assembling without additional process. This allows leaving out space for keeping these parts in each case and the brackets and the controls lever may be stocked in a single case and kept as an integrated body.
Meanwhile, it is preferable that the runner for connecting the bracket with the control lever is connected to inconspicuous part, for example, the surface of the engaging portion or the turning pivot to ensure its function, or the surface of the control lever to keep its external view.
The second aspect of the present invention provides a method for manufacturing an anti-glare rearview mirror. The rearview mirror as a workpiece of the manufacture includes a mirror, a mirror housing for fixing the mirror, a bracket pivotally mounted to the mirror housing, and a control lever pivotally mounted to the mirror housing and engaged with the bracket. So the relative angle between the bracket and the mirror housing is varied by a turning operation of the control lever relative to the mirror housing. In manufacturing this rearview mirror, the bracket and the control lever are integrally connected by a runner in such a manner that engaging portions of the bracket and that of the control lever are faced each other and that a recess portion is formed in at least one of the bracket or the control lever so as not to interfere movement of the bracket or the control lever of the assembled anti-glare rearview mirror. Further, the bracket and the control lever are separated at the runner, and these parts are assembled to the mirror housing without removing a remaining part of the runner.
According to this method, the bracket and the control lever are molded integrally connected by a runner with the engaging portion of them faced each other, and at least one of the bracket or the control lever has a recess portion that prevent an interference with a remaining part of the runner. An assembler, therefore, can separate and mesh the bracket and the lever without additional process. The worker can also assemble them to the mirror housing without turning the aspect of the lever because the engaging portion of the bracket and that of the lever have already faced each other.
Moreover, the third aspect of the present invention provides a method for manufacturing an anti-glare rearview mirror. The rear view mirror as a workpiece of the manufacture includes a mirror, a mirror housing for fixing the mirror, a bracket pivotally mounted to the mirror housing, and a control lever pivotally mounted to the mirror housing and engaged with the bracket. So the relative angle between the bracket and the mirror housing is varied by a turning operation of the control lever relative to the mirror housing. In manufacturing this rearview mirror, the bracket and the control lever are integrally connected by a runner in such a manner that engaging portions of the bracket and that of the control lever are faced each other. Further, the bracket and the control lever are separated at the runner and these parts are engaged at the engaging portions without removing a remaining part of the runner with the control lever shifted along a direction of its turning axis with respect to the bracket. Finally the bracket and the control lever are assembled to the mirror housing.
Shifting the control lever relative to the bracket in the direction of its turning axis in this manner prevents an interference of these parts with the runner, so that a worker can leave out removing process of the runners.
Furthermore, the fourth aspect of the present invention provides a method for manufacturing an anti-glare rearview mirror as described above, wherein the runner has a weak section for facilitating a handwork separation of said control lever from said bracket.
This weak section allows a worker to assemble the bracket and the control lever into a mirror housing through an operation of holding the integrally-molded bracket and lever in each hand and of separating them with a twisting action and the like, while the worker needs no turning operation of these parts. In this way, the assembly process of anti-glare rearview mirror for vehicles becomes more efficient.